From Texas to New York: Migrants as a political toy

Republican politicians from Texas have sent 20,000 migrants to New York since the spring. It is supposed to be a protest against Biden’s migration policy. But even New York hardly helps people.

Ender Pavon arrived in New York a week ago. Now he’s rummaging through a pile of old clothes in the basement of the Saint Paul and Saint Andrew Methodist church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side: “On October 1, I crossed the border to Texas. Actually, I wanted to go to an acquaintance in Pennsylvania. But it was suddenly In San Antonio they put us on a bus that went to New York. I’ve been living in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn for a week now.”

Republican politicians charter buses

Almost 20,000 migrants, most of them like 24-year-old Pavon from Venezuela, have come to New York from Texas and Arizona since the spring. Mostly in buses chartered by Republican politicians, which stop at the city’s bus station almost every day.

“We have a lot of volunteers there at the Port Authority Bus Station,” explains Reverend Karpen, the parish minister. “When the buses arrive from the border, we give people the basics they need to get by here. Some just got put on the bus and don’t even know where they are.”

“The way is dangerous and painful”

Like many others, Reverend Karpen is trying to help where it can: with food, clothing and money for the migrants who have become a political pawn before the midterm elections in the USA: “It’s so unfair that what’s happening on the back of these people who are already traumatized,” says Karpen.

“The way from Venezuela to the USA is painful, dangerous, life-threatening! These are people who have left their families behind and often lost loved ones on the way here.”

There is a lack of political will in New York

But many politicians don’t care. Republicans from the border states are trying to protest President Biden’s migration policy with high-profile actions.

But even in democratically governed New York, there is a lack of political will to help people. Instead, Mayor Eric Adams is playing the migrants off against the city’s tens of thousands of homeless and demanding money from Washington.

But that’s not all for Referend Karpen: “It’s such a big city with enormous resources. A lot more could have been done. Even now, New York could do a lot more. But communication with the authorities, which are actually about the Taking care of migrants is difficult. Nothing is going on. It’s a bit frustrating.”

Volunteers instead of the state

And so the newcomers from Latin America are dependent on the many initiatives of church communities and other volunteers, without which many migrants would not even have a roof over their heads.

“We’ve found so many ordinary people who want to help. People have opened their doors, their closets, their wallets. We’re an immigrant city. More than half of the people who live in New York are outside of the USA born. It’s part of our DNA.”

Biden responds to pressure

However, not everyone sees it that way. Also due to public pressure, President Biden significantly tightened the asylum policy shortly before the midterm elections. Venezuelans who entered illegally are returned to Mexico if they do not have relatives in the US who want to support themselves.

The actions of the Republican governors from the South are having an effect. To the horror of Reverend Karpen: “Many of these migrants are friendly, pleasant people. I think if these politicians would spend even five minutes with them, their hearts would melt. At least I hope they would have the potential. But they will obviously not going to happen.”